Hamburg terminals set for Camco VirtualGate app

Camco Technologies has announced that three Hamburg terminals will use the company’s VirtualGate mobile app.

HHLA’s three terminals at the port will implement the app which speeds up the process of getting trucks through terminal gates.

The app allows truck drivers to pre-register their visit and loading information before entering the terminals, thus gaining time at the gates.

To use the app, all a driver needs is the app, their Trucker Card-ID and PIN so the app can be used with no training for the truck driver.

“With the Camco Gate Operating System (GOS) already at the crossroads of HHLA’s port applications and databases, this mobile app is a logical next step for further gate automation,” said Anton Bernaerd, Business Development Director at Camco, “Camco is ideally placed to combine information from the TOS, Vehicle Booking System, Access Control System and others into terminal specific apps.”

The VirtualGate app, as well as HHLA’s new mandatory slot-booking process, are part of HHLA’s Fuhre 4.0 initiative to develop digital solutions for intelligent container transport.

“As volumes in container throughput and especially peak demands at HHLA terminals keep growing, we are looking for ways to accelerate throughput times at the truck gates as well as increasing the gate capacity without expanding the physical gates,” says Ingo Witte, Program Lead Fuhre 4.0 at HHLA. “The mobile app will support the trucker, reduce the truck administration processes at the truck gate and seriously improve gate efficiency and productivity.” With the app, which is to be released by mid-2018, HHLA targets more than 25.000 weekly truck visits at the terminals.

According to Camco, the main advantages for HHLA will be the higher throughput and efficiency at the gates, better control of truck flows, and freed-up parking space. Truck drivers and transportation companies will see shorter truck-turnaround times, better time-management and more accurate data.

The kiosk process will be partly integrated into the app. Truck drivers will register information that is valuable to yard operationsin advance – such as the container position on the chassis or a ‘remain on truck’ notification.

The app can be used in combination with validation from Camco’s optical character recognition (OCR) systems at the terminal entrance.